“Brave on the Rocks”

It has been absolutely ages since I last wrote anything here, I’m not sure why. Perhaps the spring sunshine meant I spent more time outside or I was just too busy making things… Actually I’ll be honest, I had a massive grumpy mood swing which took away alot of my motivation. Listening to news from Japan I was all fired up to try and help,in my own tiny way, and offered to donate 50% of all Etsy sales to Shelterbox . Unfortunately the orders didn’t exactly come flooding in and yet Facebook was full of people sharing links such as “show your support for the people of Japan by posting this to your profile…”. I wanted to scream, put your money where your mouth is.

Anyway, a few orders and commissions have slowly started to come in so I’ll be passing on the money to Shelterbox, a charity which seems to have a very practical and immediate way of helping those who have suffered in earthquakes and other natural disasters.

My grumpy mood was lifted this weekend by several wonderful things, especially the fact that I had the day off on Sunday and the first day of British Summer Time was glorious sunshine. We went to Brimham Rocks near Harrogate to watch the climbers clambering about and the families with dripping ice creams and to have a picnic of cheese and spicy olives on a rock overlooking Nidderdale.

While we ate our lunch a family came and sat under this improbably balanced boulder and made me nervous…it can’t stay balanced like that forever can it?

I’m sure I had so much to tell you, about how the garden is coming to life, the first lambs on the moor, the fantastic night watching Elbow, the latest blockbuster by Osmotherley Village Theatre… But I’m trying very hard to spend more time DOING and less time in the virtual world; I’m making a little canvas with stitch and drawing today and “I just know that something good is gonna happen, I just don’t know when”.

Reading:(again) “Kafka on the Shore” Haruki Murakami

Listening to : ( over and over) “The Birds” Elbow

Ps. This post is dedicated to wonderful friends, especially David, Becca and the Janes. And to Rupert to say thank you for a very special year.

Welcome back! I have missed your blog……We love those wibbly wobbly rocks too at Brimham, though the dog isn’t so keen to sit on the top of them as we are 🙂 Sorry about the lack of responses to your Japan fundraising idea, people don’t tend to put their money where their mouth is, do they? I set up direct debits for charities etc I support but I love the idea of buying something beautiful from you too…………I’m off to look now!
I was thinking of you today as I put a huge bunch of daffodils into a beautiful blue stoneware jug and told myself it would be just the thing you’d photograph in a stunning way………..
I’m off to make spiced banana cake now-want some? Hope all your plants and seedlings are making you as happy as mine are cheering me up……